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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

The following is a verbatim copy of a letter submitted by recently terminated Police Services Administrator for the Quartzsite Police Department, Janet Brannan, before the police chief was brought back in a coup orchestrated by Councilman Mark Orgeron.

Re: Disclosure of Information of a Matter of Public Concern Evidencing a Violation of Law, Mismanagement, a Gross Waste of Money and/or an Abuse of Authority (A.R.S. § 38-532)

Dear Sirs and Madame:

Please let me begin by introducing myself. My name is Janet Brannan and for more than a year I have been the Police Services Administrator for the Quartzsite Police Department. When I was hired by Chief Jeff Gilbert, I had known him only socially and found him to be very personable and friendly to me. While I have never worked in law enforcement before, I have had years of office experience and quickly realized the administrative office was in complete disarray and completely lacking any kind of order and efficiency. On my first day, the Chief pointed to the phone and said “I’m going to breakfast” and left me alone for the majority of the day. The remainder of my in-house training was shockingly similar. Nearly every time I asked the Chief how something was done, what needed to be done or what reports needed to be filed with the state’s agencies, I was given the same response: “I don’t know.” It soon became obvious to me that the Chief had no idea what my job entailed or should entail. Fortunately, I do not require much supervision and within a short time I was able to not only figure out how to do my job with

little or no help from Chief Gilbert, but managed to make significant improvements in case management and several other areas of the administration office.

It quickly became clear to me that the morale of the police department, except among Chief Gilbert, Sergeant Garcia, Sergeant Frausto and, for a time Sergeant Schultz, was nonexistent and that Chief Gilbert was one of the worst, if not the worst, managers I have ever had. I watched as Chief Gilbert treated his three favorites (Sergeant’s Frausto, Garcia, and Schultz) very well. They were allowed and encouraged to take long breakfasts and lunches, told they didn’t have to take calls for service and rewarded for what, in my estimate, was poor management and leadership and for undermining what little morale existed among the line officers of the department. In a department as small as ours, it seems wasteful to not only allow but encourage this lack of work ethic. One thing became extremely apparent, which was how badly he and Sergeant Garcia treated the patrol officers. I could clearly see that the Chief played favorites and was clearly discriminatory to Officer’s Felipe Rodriguez, Ruben Villafana, and Alejandro Ruvalcaba, and in later months, also to Officer Anton Coetzee. The Chief and Sergeant Garcia treated these four officers in a very demeaning and derogatory manner. Numerous comments were made by the Chief and Sergeant Garcia about these officers, and because of my work space being in the center of the department, heard more negative comments than I can count about these four officers who Chief Gilbert felt were “troublemakers” and “disloyal” to him.

I felt bad for way these officers were being mistreated, and tried to bring the clearly divided department together. But the more I tried, the more it became clear that Chief Gilbert did not want to improve morale and improve the departments standing in the community, he wanted these four officers gone. He derided me for being cordial toward them and even stated to me that one of my greatest weaknesses was my ability to get along with everyone. Chief Gilbert even went so far as to coerce Officer Rodriguez into submitting retirement papers by budgeting out his position in the new fiscal year budget and employing Sergeant Frausto as an intermediary to convince Officer Rodriguez to submit his retirement papers.

Seeing that the department was having clear problems with morale and was negatively perceived by the community in general, I did things like write press releases praising our department when it was warranted, and offered to do whatever I could to help improve our image with the community. When I tried bringing some of my ideas and observations to Chief Gilbert, he either found a reason why he didn’t want to pursue them, or he just ignored my suggestions altogether. His mismanagement of the department’s budget is something I addressed with Town Manager Taft as well, as I felt it was my responsibility to point out areas where he planned to spend money that were unnecessary while cutting out things that were very important to our officers safety such as training and vehicle replacement. In addition to budgeting out one of our few officer positions (an eleventh-hour decision not discussed with the Town Manager) and abandoning any effort to upgrade our aging fleet of patrol cars, Chief Gilbert submitted a meager training budget and yet found it more important to budget to change the department’s uniforms, patches and badges.

The conduct that I have found most disturbing throughout this past year, has been that of Jeff Gilbert and his nearly constant companion, Sergeant Fabiola Garcia. I felt it necessary to speak to Town Manager Alex Taft about some of the problems I was noticing in the department. Some of the concerns I reported were Chief Gilbert and Sergeant Garcia’s inappropriate relationship and the constant amount of time they spent together. While I understand that, as adults, sometimes relationships develop between co-workers that lead to office affairs and the subsequent aftermath may be messy and ugly, sometimes they work out and everyone lives happily ever after. What I do not approve of, is that one set

of employees being treated badly and retaliated against simply because they do not worship the ground on which Chief Gilbert and his protégé and probable mistress walk.

When I spoke to Town Manager Taft about my concerns regarding the observations I had been making within the police department, she reassured me that the Chief’s actions were being observed and documented by herself and Assistant Town Manager Al Johnson, and would be acted upon when the time was right. She advised me that I was doing a wonderful job improving not only the functionality of the department, but the morale of the officers as well. I am aware that there is an ongoing law suit filed by several former officers of the police department, so I knew that personnel matters had to be addressed very carefully and strategically.

The final straw for Town Manager Taft appeared to be an apparently criminal act pertaining to an allegedly falsified time card submitted by Sergeant Garcia and approved by Chief Gilbert. Sergeant Garcia claimed she worked nine hours, with one hour of vacation used, but was actually with Chief Gilbert in Phoenix and was only in Quartzsite for less than six hours of her ten hour shift. When Ms. Taft learned about and took action concerning this action by placing Chief Gilbert and Garcia on administrative leave and requesting that the Department of Public Safety conduct an investigation into the fraud, the Town of Quartzsite Common Council quickly placed her on administrative leave. The Chief of Police answers to the Town Manager, and her decision to place both Chief Gilbert and Sergeant Garcia on administrative leave while the Department of Public Safety conducts a criminal investigation is entirely within her discretion both pursuant to town code and Gilbert’s contract. In a maneuver that completely violates Town code, the Council members placed items on the next council agenda to fire Ms. Taft and Assistant Town Manager Al Johnson, who had angered Chief Gilbert by reinstating Officers Villafana, Ruvalcaba and Rodriguez over Gilbert’s vehement objection, and reinstate Chief Gilbert and Sergeant Garcia. Before the council meeting, the council members were served with a temporary restraining order granted by La Paz County Superior Court Judge Michael Burke to keep the council from breaking the law by acting on these personnel issues in clear violation of town code. At that meeting, Ms. Taft was placed on administrative leave, and the council did not act against Mr. Johnson or in favor of Gilbert and Garcia.

Now, the Common Council, at an extension of the next regular meeting and clearly against the advice of its attorney that it had to create a position in order to do so, hired a person, Laura Bruno (of CASA fame http://www.usacrimenews.com/UR/URArchive2003/UR0309/UR0809/Sacramento%20Today.htm) to perform the duties of town manager at a salary equivalent to an annual salary of over $96,000 even while paying Ms Taft well over $70,000 annually to do the same job. Although the agenda was written in such a way to permit public comment, the Council, in an apparent act of cowardice and caprice, refused to accept any public input before approving a contract, which couldn’t have been reviewed by the Town Attorney as required by town code inasmuch as he was excluded from the executive session preceding her appointment, with Bruno by a vote of 5 to 1.

Because the existing Town Manager had not even received notice of the reasons for being placed on administrative leave let alone been fired, the Town Attorney apparently told the Town Council that it needed to create a position for Bruno on the 11th of September, given the absence of any action to create such a position on the agenda for the 11th and the presence of an item on the agenda for the meeting on the 12th – her identity had not been disclosed at this time, so it’s not clear whether the Town Attorney knew who was being considered for the position but the Council seemingly knew – to fill and then fill that position if they wanted to have someone, other than an existing town employee, serve as Town Manager while Taft was incapacitated. Because the council wanted to fill this position

immediately – how the Council knew that they would be able to fill this position immediately without violating open meeting laws remains a mystery – any such ordinance creating the position would have to be passed as an emergency measure.

Apparently realizing that he didn’t have the votes to pass an emergency measure, Council Member Mark Orgeron and the Council amended the agenda and moved instead to hire Bruno, apparently hand-picked by Mr. Orgeron and pre-approved by a majority of the council, to fill the position that Ms. Taft already filled and, to this date, continues to fill. They rushed this deal through in Executive Session and deliberately excluded the Town Attorney, who has a contractual and lawful duty to be present when the council negotiates a contract. How paying two people to do the same job while one of them appears to have been illegally hired and filling the position of the other and the other is made to sit at home without even being told what, other than do her job in accordance with town code, she had done to warrant such punishment must, at the very least, be a gross waste of the town’s limited resources.

Between the time that the Town council placed Ms. Taft on administrative leave without notice as to why, and the appointment of Mrs. Bruno to fill the position already filled by Taft, assistant town manager, as authorized by then acting Town Manager Terry Frausto, terminated Gilbert’s contract based on gross negligence and willful misconduct including issuing a press release which falsely claimed that he had been “exonerated” of misconduct by an Department of Public Safety. The report, by Special Investigator Peter White, apparently falls short of providing the Attorney General with sufficient evidence of criminal conduct to establish proof beyond a reasonable doubt, could not be seen by any reasonable person as having exonerating Gilbert. To the contrary, at the very least, the report makes a case that Gilbert attempted to influence a witness in an administrative investigation and either criminally misused the Arizona Criminal Justice Information System or was so out of touch with his duties as chief of police permitted those he was supposed to be supervising to criminally misuse the system through gross negligence. Given the lack of management I have personally witnessed by Chief Gilbert, I personally believe he was completely out of touch and unaware of not only what his employees were doing, but also that he had no idea what they were even supposed to be doing. How can he know if I am doing my job if he doesn’t know what my job even is?

The very first action taken by Bruno was to do the very first thing that the Superior Court forbade the Council from doing in the Temporary Restraining Order – take a negative personnel action against Mr. Johnson. Although Bruno initially told members of town staff shortly after telling Johnson he was on administrative leave and to get his stuff out of his office and vacate the premises (under police escort) that her reason for doing so was that he had blocked her from entering town hall. When asked by an employee at an impromptu meeting on the day Mr. Johnson was placed on administrative leave – after telling the staff everyone would get a fair shake – how they could trust that statement after Mr. Johnson was placed on administrative leave for doing his job, Bruno said words to the effect of “I don’t like your tone young lady, I know more than you do and deserve some respect.” Two days later she told the press at a hastily announced press conference that Mr. Johnson had exceeded his authority by terminating Chief Gilbert’s contract and that’s why he was placed on leave. Mr. Johnson, who wasn’t at the meeting during which Bruno was illegally, or at the least wastefully, hired to fill the position still filled by Ms Taft, had been appointed a building security officer months earlier and was merely doing his job by confronting someone he did not know from entering into the administrative part of the building, making her alleged motivation clearly arbitrary and capricious. Interestingly, and clearly in violation of his right to due process, Mr. Johnson has never been told why he is on admin leave, but rather has been told that his administrative leave is indefinite and without reason or cause. If the town had a legitimate reason for placing Mr. Johnson on administrative leave, why is it wasting money paying him?

This change in theory makes it absolutely clear that Bruno either lied to the staff, or she lied to the press. This is not to say it’s not impossible that she lied to the staff and the press, and that the real reason Mr. Johnson was punished was that one or more members of the Council, in violation of Section 3-2-1(F) of the Town Code, directed or requested that she punish Johnson. Also calling into question Bruno’s motives is the fact that Bruno’s husband is one of a very few inspectors of back-flow devices (intended to ensure that people connected to the town’s water supply who insist on using their own wells do not contaminate the town’s water supply). Because the Bruno’s leave Quartzsite every year as the weather changes and the desert becomes difficult to live in, Bruno’s husband’s schedule caused major problems for the town which requires annual inspections and to homeowners who have been subjected to receiving their two annual inspections essentially back-to-back resulting in being charged for two inspections within weeks, if not just a few months of each other. After receiving multiple complaints about Bruno’s husband, Mr. Johnson warned him that his conduct was imperiling his business license and the town stopped recommending Mr. Bruno when homeowners asked for the names of qualified backflow inspectors.

Given that Bruno has already done the first thing the Council wanted to do but was forbidden by the Superior Court from doing directly, it isn’t at all surprising that the second thing she did was to countermand Mr. Johnson’s termination of Gilbert’s contract, falsely stating that Mr. Johnson had not been given the authority to terminate Gilbert’s contract. Now, the Council has published an agenda for
the meeting to be held on September 25, 2012 calls for the council to direct (once again in clear violation of town code) her to either terminate Gilbert’s contract or, more likely given her response to my earlier complaint of difficult/uncomfortable work environment, enter into a new extended contract with Gilbert.

Why all of these things happened is a matter of speculation, of course, but certain events suggest that a former council member and unsuccessful mayoral candidate who is also a friend of Gilbert’s, has persuaded, through some fashion, the Council to act to save Gilbert’s job and punish Ms. Taft and Mr. Johnson for having the audacity to hold Gilbert to the same rules that he expected the six police officers and one administrative staff member to be subjected to when they were terminated by the Town after making an ill-fated effort to blow the whistle on Gilbert’s conduct in 2011.

Following the May 15, 2012 general election, the Town Council refused to seat two of the candidates garnering the most votes. They refused to seat Mark Orgeron, because less than a year before the election he was a qualified voter in Yuma County precluding him from being a resident of Quartzsite for voting purposes for the year preceding the May 15, 2012 election. They also refused to seat Edward Foster because, in violation of town code, Foster owes and refuses to pay a penalty to the Town imposed by the Superior Court after he filed a frivolous suit against the town and failed to appear to prosecute the frivolous suit.

The aforementioned former council member and runner-up in the May 15, 2012 mayoral election, Jerry Lukkasson first approached Ms. Taft and Mr. Johnson and insisted that he be put on the agenda to fill the seat declared vacant by the Council’s finding that Orgeron was disqualified. Ms. Taft and Mr. Johnson informed Lukkasson that this matter was being litigated (the litigation was dropped after the Council determined that Orgeron, though not eligible to run on May 15, 2012 was qualified to be appointed after his residency exceeded one year and appointed him to fill the vacancy created by their earlier determination that he was not qualified to run).

Lukkasson then insisted that he be put on the agenda to be appointed mayor. Ms. Taft and Mr. Johnson then advised Lukkasson that this seat was also the subject of litigation (and remains so) and could not be filled until the ordinance was cleared by the Justice Department (which it was) and found to be permitted by state law (which it has not yet been).

Lukkasson then showed Ms. Taft an envelope that he claimed contained proof that Council Member Carol Kelley had misused funds while the director of the Quartzsite Senior Center. Lukkasson suggested that Ms. Taft advise Ms. Kelley that he had this information and suggest that she resign her position on the Council so that he could be put on the agenda to fill her position. Ms Taft told Lukkasson that if Lukkasson had evidence of a crime, he should tell the police. Lukkasson then approached Mr. Johnson with the same story. Mr. Johnson reacted more incredulously and told Lukkasson to engage in sexual relations with himself, although not in such a delicate manner.

I believe that Lukkasson’s failed attempts to get Ms. Taft and Mr. Johnson to get him a council seat – why he thought he would be appointed if placed on the agenda is a testament either to his ego or his political pull – and to act as his agent in blackmailing Ms. Kelley, along with this friendship with Gilbert has led to the improper placement of Ms. Taft and Mr. Johnson on administrative leave and in persuading, through whatever means, the Council to get Gilbert back to work. Especially Orgeron, whose campaign included a promise to rid the town of Gilbert. One theory would certainly be that, if, as Detective White thought a possibility, Gilbert misused ACJIS out of friendship to Lukkasson and others, Orgeron now sees the political upside to having Gilbert as a political ally.

Of additional concern, is that a complaint raised by Officer Anton Coetzee and investigated Mr. Johnson will result in Officer Coetzee, who is on probation until October 17, 2012, will be terminated in retaliation for his having made the complaint. Gilbert implied as much in his response to Officer Coetzee’s complaint when he wrote words to the effect that when the investigation was complete, Gilbert would deal with Coetzee summarily using his own authority.

In the complaint, which Mr. Johnson found meritorious, Coetzee raised several concerns. First, he was “ambushed” by Gilbert and Garcia by being lured into what was originally characterized as a talk about new department policies which quickly turned into an inquisition which, under state law, should have resulted in Officer Coetzee being informed of his right to have a representative present with him and to take breaks to consult with counsel when he thought it appropriate.

Also during this inquisition, Coetzee made a complaint that changing this schedule without notice wasn’t healthy for him because, being diabetic; his body requires time to adjust to change. Mr. Johnson found that Gilbert not only failed to consider this concern and offer or even consider a reasonable accommodation, Gilbert dismissed Coetzee’s health concern as wholly unimportant to him.

Even more disturbingly, Gilbert told Coetzee that the department had a “quota” policy because the department wasn’t bringing in revenue for the town and needed to be. Gilbert told Coetzee that every officer was to write three citations per shift. This is certainly not any policy that I have ever heard of or any that I can imagine the Council or Administration approving of.

Although undoubtedly ignored, if not destroyed by Bruno, Mr. Johnson found the conduct of Gilbert, when combined with other misconduct, cause to terminate Gilbert’s contract and to demote Garcia, who was promoted to Sergeant while still on probation as an officer and was in a probationary status as a Sergeant, be demoted to Officer should she be cleared during the pending DPS criminal investigation.

Mr. Johnson also ordered that the complaint and his conclusions be shared with Arizona POST because he found a statement made by Gilbert to be dishonest and for POST to use as additional background in its ongoing investigation into Gilbert’s conduct. A copy of the Coetzee’s initial grievance, the nearly two hour browbeating that the Chief recorded without Coetzee’s knowledge, the complaint and all its attachments were sent to Arizona POST by me pursuant to Mr. Johnson’s instructions.

Although the complaint is a Police Department record, Town Clerk Frausto, at the insistence of Bruno, insisted that the original documents be turned over to her. Copies were kept at the police department, but it is impossible for me, as the custodian of records, to say what has happened to the original documents which I provided to the town clerk at the insistence of acting Chief of Police, Sergeant James Schultz. I am glad that I sent the entire investigation to POST in the event that it is destroyed or misplaced by Bruno.

Before Mr. Johnson was placed on administrative leave, he spoke with Acting Chief, Sergeant James Schultz and determined that there was sufficient need to place Schultz on light duty status because of the inundation of complaints, always informal, Schultz has made concerning the condition of his knees. Schultz, a reserve Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve, has said, repeatedly that his knees are “shot” and that he is disappointed in the small level of disability pay he has been offered by the Veterans’ Administration given just how truly bad his knees are. He has claimed that, although he can run a short time if necessary, afterward his knees swell so badly that he can barely walk and that he intends, with the assistance of the DAV, to get his disability increased. Although Gilbert was aware of this constant complaining, he never took action. This should have been a matter that concerned Chief Gilbert greatly, since Schultz could be forced to chase a suspect at any time, give aid to a fellow officer, and because of his injured knees, might pose an injury risk to himself, to others, and a great liability to the Town of Quartzsite.

After acting Town Manager Frausto delegated her authority regarding the police department to Mr. Johnson, Mr. Johnson issued an order to Schultz, pursuant to Town Personnel Policy, instructing Schultz to perform light duty until he is cleared medically for patrol duty. Mr. Johnson’s concerns reportedly stemmed from his concern that, if Schultz’s knees were as bad as he claimed, he poses a risk to the other officers he patrols with, the public he is charged with protecting and the town if he later claims that his injuries were caused or exacerbated by his duties as a patrol officer. Following his placement on administrative leave, Schultz was, apparently at his own insistence, restored to full duty and, if he is being honest with the Veterans Administration, continues to pose a real and present risk to public safety.

Additionally, I am concerned about recent statements by Bruno which suggests frequent and flagrant violations of Arizona Open Meeting Laws. During a meeting with the Police Department personnel on Sept. 19th, Bruno claimed to have received clear marching orders from the Council concerning certain actions. Considering that there have been no public meetings since her appointment, that the agenda for the last meeting she could have gotten those instructions from did not include anything which would have permitted the Council to give her clear marching orders except for an executive session which was, by its terms, only supposed to involve discussion of her contract, this certainly invites inquiry into when and how she got these clear marching orders from the Council.

Recent internet posts indicate that Bruno has been meeting secretly with the Council, by secretly I mean without a recording or minutes of what is occurring, in groups of three. These meetings include alleged meetings about the performance of employees who were given no notice whatsoever of the fact that

their employment was being discussed or of the contents of these discussions without regard to any due process rights they might have. Whether these three plus three meetings involve differing groups of three people is beyond my information, the fact that Bruno is claiming that she received clear marching orders from the council (not a sense of what the council wants or a consensus of what the council is looking for, but clear marching orders), surely cannot be permissible.

In addition to these issues, I raised the concerns contained in a letter addressed to then acting Town Manager Terry Frausto and Personnel Officer Al Johnson on September 12, 2012 and have attached a copy to this letter. I have also attached a copy of the undated reply I received from Bruno on September 18, 2012 and my reply thereto on September 21st.

As I told Bruno in my reply to her September 18 letter, I love my job and all I am asking for is to do it in an environment that is safe, healthy, productive and free from the threat of retaliation. Given what I have seen over the last year and my sincere belief that Gilbert, if reinstated on September 25, 2012, as it now appears to be, I have signed my own employment death warrant. Whether I will be summarily terminated or just made so miserable that I finally just cannot take the stress anymore, I have no doubt that my career will come to an end.

Even so, what I wrote in the attached letters and in the foregoing is absolutely true to the best of my knowledge and on information and belief obtained from reliable sources, and I feel it is essential that someone outside of the town look into these serious allegations, even if it costs me my position as Police Services Administrator. I implore you to look into these allegations and put a stop to these illegal actions, mismanagement and gross waste of public money.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

After weeks spent on what was likely administrative leave that violated the contract with Town Manager Alexandra Taft, the Quartzsite Council came out of executive session and voted to terminate her. There was no discussion or explanation. Many speculate that Taft had been threatening a lawsuit. If she pursues one, she will be paying to defend her actions, instead of the taxpayers.

This is the most recent in a string of terminations that include Town Attorney Martin Brannan, Assistant Town Manager Albert Johnson. Planning and Zoning Director Nora Yackley, and Police Administrator Janet Brannan.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

In a tell all and sometimes fanciful recounting of the last year and a half, Quartzsite Town Attorney Martin Brannan has filed a complaint with the Arizona Personnel Board. He is basically alleging a hostile work environment, that ironically, he helped to create, and mental anguish related to a preexisting 50% disability for "post traumatic stress disorder".

Brannan states that he was too mentally ill to attend his own hearing before the Quartzsite Town Council, and despite he and his wife being well compensated as town employees he could not afford treatment. According to Brannans claim, “Dr. Franklin ordered me to go to the emergency room for an immediate
psych evaluation as I had exceeded his ability to be of assistance…
Not being able to afford the $250 co-pay for the local emergency room …I
sent an email to Bruno explaining that I was not well.”

Brannan is demanding severance pay, and will likely pursue civil damages, however, A.R.S. Section A.R.S. §
12-2202 requires that “Persons who are of unsound mind at the time they
are called to testify shall not be witnesses in a civil action.” Likewise, Rule 35(a) of Arizona Civil Procedure states, “When the
mental or physical condition (including the blood group) of a party
[...] is in controversy, the court in which the action is pending may
order the party to submit to a physical or mental examination by a
physician or psychologist or to produce for examination the person in
the party’s custody or legal control. The order may be made only on
motion for good cause shown and upon notice to the person to be examined
and to all parties and shall specify the time, place, manner,
conditions, and scope of the examination and the person or persons by
whom it is to be made.” It is not known if there are similar requirments for the Arizona State Personnel
Board, or if any “testimony” Brannon gives in this matter or any other is even admissable.

He is demanding the following relief from the AZ Personnel Board:
1) That the State Personnel Board enjoins the Town of Quartzsite from terminating me with cause.
2) That the State Personnel Board orders the Town of Quartzsite to
change the termination to a without cause termination and pay the
severance owed as a result thereof.
3) That the State Personnel Board orders Laura Bruno to pay a civil
penalty of up to five thousand dollars to the Town of Quartzsite general
fund to be paid by Laura Bruno, not the Town of Quartzsite.
4) That the State Personnel Board finds that Laura Bruno committed a
prohibited personnel practice against Complainant, who disclosed
information that Complainant reasonably believed evidenced a violation
of any law.
5) That the State Personnel Board orders Laura Bruno to pay a civil penalty of up to ten thousand dollars.
6) That the State Personnel Board orders the Town of Quartzsite to dismiss Laura Bruno.
7) That the State Personnel Board bars Laura Bruno from any future employment by the Town of Quartzsite.

Brannan's contract was terminated on October 30th, "with cause" for the following reasons:
1. Violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys in the
State of Arizona, including a conflict of interest in violation of
Ethical Rule 1.7(a). You gave advice to Council of the Town Quartzsite
regarding personnel matters then initiated legal action against advised
Council members for failure to follow advice.
2. Material Misrepresentation to Town Council and Violation of Town
Procurement Code. Stating to Council on March 27, 2012 that there would
be no authorization to use town funds in connection with a voter fraud
investigation; You later claimed that you had authority to hire Mr.
Humphreys to perform an investigation without approval of the Council
for the expenditure and incurred expenses in excess of $8,000 on behalf
of the Town without authorization from Town Council, in violation of
Town Code Section 3-401H.
3. Attempted and actual abandonment of your position; Seeking to
abandon your position by repeatedly requesting notice of constructive
discharge from acting Town Manager Frausto; Abandoning your position by
packing your belongings and not returning to work.
4. Intimidation of Acting town Manager and coercion to acquire her
signature on a document purporting to recuse herself in regards to
personnel matters.
5. Acting in violation of your duties of loyalty.

Brannan states that he was hired because "the Town was looking for a “hard-ass” town attorney", and that he "was advised the town was factionalized, but this was something of an understatement". According to Brannan, the recently released DPS report "provided
information from which a reasonably prudent person could conclude that Gilbert did misuse the NCIC and ACJIS and did tamper with a witness. The Town was asked, however, to hold on to the information
while it was reviewed by the AMRRP attorneys defending the federal
lawsuit involving the seven employees, so no action was taken
immediately upon receipt of the report." He claims the charge of witness tampering is being reconsidered for prosecution by the Attorney General's Office and discusses the reason that Gilbert and Sgt. Fabiola Garcia were put on administrative leave this summer, "Gilbert and one of his sergeants, a female with whom he appears to be romantically, or at the very least, inappropriately involved,
had conspired to submit a time card for the charge which stated that
she had worked nine hours and taken one vacation hour on a day when the
Town knew that the sergeant was only in Quartzsite available to work for
no more than six hours." This charge was subsequently stated by the town to be unsubstantiated and Garcia returned to work with QPD.

Brannan also claims that Councilman Mark Orgeron orchestrated open meeting violations, and that Orgeron's choice for "Interim Town Manager", CASA pension schemer Laura Bruno intimidated town employees, and engaged in prohibited personnel practices.